


The Secret Recipe to Royalty

by JazzRaft



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Established Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Food Porn, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 18:42:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20451782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/pseuds/JazzRaft
Summary: The secret to Noct’s happiness had never been hard for Nyx to figure out. The secret to his father’s birthday cake for him, however, has got Nyx scratching his head.





	The Secret Recipe to Royalty

**Author's Note:**

> for Noct's birthday, 2019! love this little prince <3

“Now, this needs to be exact. Understood?”

“Understood… One question, though. What happens to me if it’s not?”

Regis pulled the ties of his apron so tight that they snapped, sharp as a whiplash. Nyx flinched as if he’d been stung. It would be _exact_, the gesture said, because the King decreed that it would be so. Nyx did not want to hear the answer to his question should it not be.

It wasn’t as if he was really worried. He knew how to bake a cake... Mostly. He’d watched his mother do it enough times. And he’d helped Libs around an oven enough to know the difference – and importance – between the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients. This was just like that, Nyx told himself. He was just the sous-chef today. He was just here to help. That’s what he did every day! Help the Crown; aid Lucis; assist the King, by the edge of his kukris and crystal magic.

Right now, Nyx thought he’d prefer a dozen behemoths stampeding him to a pulp over baking a cake. At least out there, under those massive paws, the King wasn’t standing right next to him to watch his every mistake.

“I’m counting on you, Ulric,” Regis said, smoothing the silver strands of his hair back into a ponytail, mimicking how Nyx had his. “It’ll be a great help to have an extra hand.”

“Happy to be of service, Your Majesty.” (At least he thought he was.)

“Come now, my dear boy. I think we’re long past the formalities. I’m not above stating that, by royal decree, you must call me Regis if you’re to continue dating my son.”

“Sorry, sir,” Nyx chuckled, partly in humor and partly in horror. “It’s a tough habit to break.”

“That’s your extra mission for the day, then. Besides, I’m sure it’d bring Noctis no small amount of delight to hear us on familiar terms after all this time.”

The King was a clever one. He knew Nyx’s weaknesses well – because they were the same as his own. It was almost cruel how immediately it made Nyx’s heart ache to please Noct. It wasn’t a lot to ask, especially not for the prince’s birthday.

“I’ll work on it,” Nyx promised.

“Excellent! Now, shall we get to work on this?”

It was a little bit more of an involved cake than Nyx was used to – meaning it didn’t come out of a box. He was tasked with measuring out the dry ingredients while Regis cut parchment to fit the cake pans, buttering the bottoms for extra insurance that they wouldn’t stick.

“Where’d you learn how to bake?” Nyx asked, amused by the meticulous measures of paper.

“An old friend,” Regis said, vaguely, then paused to smile. “And the internet, of course.”

“Of course.”

The non-stick tricks might have been from the internet, but the recipe, Nyx was told, was a Lucis Caelum secret, passed down for generations. It was an honor for Nyx to be involved in the process, and he was eager to expand his knowledge of old Caelum customs, if not for his own betterment, then to surprise Noct with any little Lucian factoid he could throw out in casual conversation.

Nyx wasn’t quite sure what the secret to the recipe was, though. He sifted flour, salt, baking soda and powder into a bowl; all standard fare. Even the cocoa powder was typical of a chocolate cake – though the name on the tin was one Nyx knew held a spot of honor in specialty food stores where the price was higher for the quality of the processing behind it. Of course an ingredient he could barely afford on a Kingsglaive salary would be commonplace in the royal kitchens. That didn’t surprise him in the least bit.

The wet mixture that the King was working on was a little more interesting. Nyx glanced up from his sifting when he heard the telltale hiss and pop of a bottle cap being opened. A dark bottle of stout was poured into a measuring cup, with vanilla extract and espresso powder. Regis took a swig of the remaining stout from the bottle while he stirred the mix together. He offered the bottle to Nyx to finish.

“Noct’s told me you were once a bartender,” Regis said, as Nyx downed the stout. “Anything your expertise can tell me about the royal booze reserve?”

“Only that whoever stocks it must have great taste. And a strong tolerance,” Nyx said, suppressing a cough as the smooth, frothy drink warmed his stomach.

“It better be strong,” Regis laughed. “How else do you think we bear all of these envoys from Niflheim?”

Another family secret shared, Nyx thought with a grin. He always knew Lucians were made of stronger stuff than Libertus gave them credit for.

Nyx thought that the stout might have been the secret ingredient to the Lucis Caelum’s secret family cake recipe. But it was only after Regis finished creaming together butter and sugar and cracking a few eggs that Nyx was proven wrong. And he wasn’t even allowed to see the ingredient that proved it.

“Would you mind turning away for this part?” Regis asked, a bit sheepishly. “I assure you it’s not meant as an insult to your integrity.”

“Wouldn’t have taken it that way, sir.” Nyx put his hands up in deference and did as he was told, turning his back to the little baking station. “You wouldn’t believe how many secret recipes I’ve been chased out of kitchens for.”

“Is that right?” Regis chuckled. Nyx heard the refrigerator door thud open and closed, then the grind of a plastic lid being turned. “Do tell.”

“Galahdians are very protective of their family recipes. They’ll welcome any guest to come and try it, but start snooping in the kitchen for a clue and you’ll find yourself at the mercy of the flat end of a spatula.”

Regis laughed out loud, warm and rich as the bottle of stout. Nyx didn’t turn around again until he heard the refrigerator close its secret ingredient inside once more. The hand mixer roared to life to blend it into the butter so Nyx would never be able to tell what it was. It didn’t smell much different, especially not once they started adding the wet and dry mixtures in. Nyx offered to be the biceps of the operation and mix while Regis carefully added the ingredients in increments. All guesses as to the secret ingredient fell by the wayside as Nyx focused on the rhythm of the mixer, blending together a thick, dark batter, buttery and chocolatey and smelling faintly of coffee and stout.

“And the not-so-secret ingredient,” Regis announced at the end. He slapped a bag of dark chocolate chunks onto the table, this time bearing a brand Nyx had been familiar with since his childhood. “Because you can never have too much chocolate.”

“I think Noct would agree with you.”

“He always was a fiend for the stuff,” Regis said, the fine crevices of his face wrinkling with fondness.

“He never grew out of it,” Nyx assured him.

It was with that promise in mind that they tackled the rest of the components while the cakes baked. Nyx stirred sugar and ulwaat berries over the stove like a small town sorcerer crafting a tonic for the townsfolk. Regis took to the delicate work of perfuming whipped cream with sylleblossom petals like a renaissance painter, smoothly guiding folds of cream over and over again until they swirled with pale shades of blue. The kitchen warmed with the heat of the oven and talk of Noctis, past, present, and future.

Regis confided stories of a chubby-cheeked Noctis splashed with chocolate frosting like they were sacred texts to be passed down only to the worthy. In return, Nyx told the king tales of Noctis as he was now, one such featuring a kitchen towel beaten over a pot burning black with melted cheese. They talked about their hopes for the prince’s birthday this year, made sure all of the arrangements were still in place to break the King out of his routine to attend the celebration, and made certain the cake was perfect too.

“It’s not too… childish, is it?”

Nyx stared over at Regis once they were finished layering ulwaat berry syrup and sylleblossom cream between the finished, fudgy cakes. There was a wistful, worrisome look in the old king’s eyes, turning the confection on its stand as he finished adjusting the decorations – dark blue starfruit pierced along the top like constellations in the night sky. Regis glanced briefly at Nyx when he felt his quizzical stare, then back to the cake.

“I remember this was his favorite… when he was eight. He’s not a child anymore, but…”

Nyx understood. Better than Regis realized. Noctis had reached the age where he outgrew his privacy a long time ago. The protective canopy of childhood had been stripped away, abandoning him to the scrutinizing eyes of the kingdom and beyond. It had never been by choice, though. There had never been a public birthday party that Noctis enjoyed, where duchesses and dignitaries from far and wide arrived to honor the prince they’d never met. He cut cakes for photo ops that were never his favorites – just voted on by a panel of strangers who didn’t even know him.

He’d missed the stars, Nyx knew. There were nights where Noct confided in him all the things he missed. He missed when he didn’t know what the weight of the crown meant for him. He missed finger painting on the floors in the Halls of History. He missed holding his father’s hand and knowing it would always keep him safe. He’d missed blue: the blue sylleblossoms, the blue walls of his old room, the blue eyes of his father helping him blow out blue candles on a blue cake.

Nyx tentatively patted a hand on the King’s shoulder, as if he were in his own kitchen, standing beside his own family. “I think if he were to ask for any gift, this would be it. It’s perfect, Regis.”

The King gave the cake one more look, searching for breaks in the blue frosting or a chocolate crumb out of place. Searching for a sign that he still knew his son. Nyx hoped he found it, because eventually Regis smiled and gingerly fit the cake into the fridge to await delivery later.

“Perfect, you say. Mayonnaise and all?”

“_Mayonnaise?_”

“Mayonnaise.”

Noctis nodded, hours later, when Nyx pulled him aside from the rest of the festivities to confirm that the King hadn’t been pulling his leg with that little confession. Nyx had been thinking about it all night, while spotting Prompto as he stood on furniture to pin streamers and balloons around the prince’s apartment. He’d thought about it while he chopped aromatics for Ignis to toss into his recipes for their little birthday banquet. He’d puzzled over it as he lifted one end of the couch and Gladio lifted the other to make more space in the living room.

He’d stopped thinking about it for one whole hour as Noctis fiddled the key into the door and entered the apartment to a surprise assemblage of his closest friends. He almost forgot about his whole day baking with the King as Noctis picked his father out of the small crowd and magnetized to his side in his excitement to see him. He forgot how to think at all when Noct’s bright stare, big as two blue moons in the night sky, found Nyx’s across the room and glistened with gratitude for whatever he’d done to ensure his dad could attend.

Then it came time to present the cake, and Nyx remembered the mayonnaise. But he remembered better Regis’s nervousness about whether or not Noctis would like, or even remember, the cake. The barely concealed wobble in Noct’s lips as the candles set the blue starfruits aglow spoke to a decade’s worth of yearning for this one simple pleasure. Nyx was glad the flash of Prompto’s camera captured the moment, Regis’s arm around Noct’s shoulders and hugging him to his side as the prince ducked his grinning, teary-eyed face behind the birthday candles.

It was only after Nyx got to try his co-creation that he had to ask about the secret ingredient. Because it was excellent. It was rich and fudgy and slipped across his tongue like black velvet, sweetened with berry syrup and sylleblossom cream. The starfruit burst in his mouth like a broken dam of juice soaking into the chocolate. And he just had to know how _mayonnaise_ factored in to create such a delectable concoction.

“Lucian magic?” Noctis suggested, shrugging, a half-eaten second slice already on his plate. “Maybe it’s made of the same spell you used to get my dad to come.”

“No magic necessary, Noct. Just a lot of paperwork.”

“Even more harrowing.”

“You have no idea.”

“I appreciate your valiant sacrifice,” Noctis teased, then sobered for a moment, craning his neck up to press a kiss to Nyx’s cheek. Softly, he added, “More than you know.”

“I know.”

Nyx brushed his lips against Noct’s forehead – little kisses while in big company. He knew how much it meant to Noct just to have his birthday to himself. Just to be among his friends and his family and out from under the spotlight that treated him more as a gift to the people than the one meant to be receiving gifts. He knew how much Noct longed for simpler times, the times where it had just been him and his dad and fantastical cakes invented from his boyhood dreams.

The secret to Noct’s happiness had never been hard for Nyx to figure out. While the rest of the kingdom pondered and picked apart all of the prince’s possible preferences, Nyx only needed to open his eyes and look to know what he really wanted. The way he gravitated to his father like a little satellite, nervously falling into orbit; the way he licked baby blue frosting from his fingertips; the way his eyes lit up when he got to blow out the candles.

The secret was no stranger to Nyx. Certainly not stranger than putting mayonnaise in a chocolate cake.

**Author's Note:**

> here is the [recipeh!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwKGZS3EE7Q) weird secret ingredient and everything! I hope you've enjoyed my small contribution to noct's birthday celebration this year! here's to many, many more!


End file.
